GDC09: Why weren’t there any election games in 2008?

Yes, I know I haven’t posted about GDC yet and a whole day is in the books. Things are slow going but I’ve got a few in the pipeline awaiting one final touch or another.

Until then, politics.

I know, I know. But a panel at the Serious Games Summit raised some very interesting questions about why political campaigns haven’t used games as a way to get their message out. And while I see their point, I also don’t see why it’s surprising. All this is perfectly normal for this point in the evolution of video games as a medium.

Don’t get me wrong, the panelists (Ben Sawyer, Ian Bogost and Chris Swain) made excellent points about how video games could be useful as a campaign tool. And they were right, video games are by far the best medium in the world today to communicate a concept.

Their point was this: The written word can only go so far. Being told about something does a lot to transfer information, but human beings overwhelmingly learn better when they’re learning by doing. Getting your hands dirty always beats just having it explained. For example, here’s Webster’s definition of gerrymandering:

To divide (a territorial unit) into election districts to give one political party an electoral majority in a large number of districts while concentrating the voting strength of the opposition in as few districts as possible.

Done? Okay, now is it clear? Now take that concept and replace redistricting with, say, a budget proposal, or tax code changes, or foreign policy. The most dense and impenetrable concept suddenly becomes clear. And since it’s not an outright statement it doesn’t immediately scare away opponents, helping both sides to find common ground or at least hear each other out.

So if it makes so much sense why was the only official campaign game in the 2008 cycle “Pork Invaders,” a cheap clone of Space Invaders where you shoot floating pigs with the word “VETO,” from the McCain campaign? Because that’s what politicians think of when they think video games. To them, even the Obamas of the world, video games are either Space Invaders or Grand Theft Auto.

And why shouldn’t they be? Anyone old enough to run for office remembers the birth of video games. Their first experience was the Atari and their most recent was the Jack Thompson Manufactured Scandal of the Month. They remember a time when it didn’t exist so it’s still a foreign concept, still stuck in its least mature form.

It’s not like video games are the first medium that wasn’t immediately taken seriously. Music was around for a long time before the first jingle writer discovered it could be used to sell stuff. Movies were seen as a cheap novelty for kids and teens long before anyone realized the propaganda potential. We want everything now but history says the maturation process takes decades, and we’re not quite there yet.

As Douglas Adams said, “Anything invented before your fifteenth birthday is the order of nature. That’s how it should be. Anything invented between your 15th and 35th birthday is new and exciting, and you might get a career there. Anything invented after that day, however, is against nature and should be prohibited.” Until video games are the order of nature for candidates and their staff, they won’t be taken seriously enough to be used in any substantial way in a campaign. It’s not an insult to gaming, it’s not the ignorance of the political system, it’s not a missed opportunity by developers. It’s simply not the right time. We have to wait for that one game or event that will legitimize games as a form of expression.

dwillis

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